Product certification

The certification of products, processes and services is intended to demonstrate to the market and regulators that a provider can and does make products, develop processes or provide services that meet set quality requirements.

The accreditation of product certification bodies awarding quality marks or symbols is the most recognised system for generating confidence in these hallmarks and, consequently, the quality that they represent.

Accredited certification is now available in the various sectors – industry, agriculture and livestock, energy, construction, health, transport, telecommunications, etc. – generating confidence in "marks of quality" for a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, processes and services.

More than 150 accredited product certification bodies provide this guarantee to companies in diverse sectors.

Products

Accredited product certification is now available for a wide range of manufactured products: metallic materials, domestic appliances, construction materials, electrical material, wind farms, forest products, artisanal products, food and primary-sector products and different types of services, such as tourist establishments, etc., both regulatory and voluntary.

Product certification often involves a series of evaluation activities, such as the inspection of manufacturing processes, tests on samples taken by the certification body and, on occasion, auditing of the quality system, depending on the product being certified.

R&D+i

The increasing importance of research and development activities and technological innovation (R&D+i) for business development and maintaining competitiveness has led to the development of measures to foster and support these activities.

The certification of R&D+i projects is a tool made available by the Government for companies through which it incentivises expenditure and investment in R&D+i and technological innovation with tax benefits (as provided in Article 35 of the Corporation Tax Act).

To obtain these tax incentives, companies can apply for a reasoned report from the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade outlining the R&D+i content of a given project. This report is binding for the Tax Agency and therefore gives the company total legal security when it applies the tax relief to its R&D+i expenditure

To request the reasoned report, the company must have a technical and economic evaluation report on the project that has been certified by a body accredited by ENAC to certify projects in different technological disciplines.

The independence required of Certification Bodies accredited by ENAC, together with the guarantee of their technical competence, provides objective and homogeneous information on the contents of the certified projects and their associated budgets and expenses, besides identifying the research staff.

Processes and services

The weight of the services industry in the economy is increasing by the day, as are the quality requirements applicable to it. Therefore, it is no surprise that the accredited certification of services is experiencing a dramatic rise.

A prime example of this are the accredited certification schemes for the quality of port services, nature tourism and health services.

The accredited certification scheme for the quality of port services sets out a series of key features for the diverse aspects of the service (port infrastructure and equipment, management of the port space and traffic, automotive and marine vessel services, etc.) provided by concessionaires of maritime terminals or stations and shipping companies for the traffic of people and goods and which meet the requirements of cost, flexibility, waiting times, reliability, and avoidance of damage in this type of transport.

Bodies accredited to certify nature tourism services are qualified to award the Parque Natural de Andalucía hallmark of quality granted by the Ministry of the Environment to services in nature parks of Andalusia and areas within its socio-economic scope.

Accredited certification is experiencing a boom in the health sector. Spain has accredited bodies qualified to certify the services of health clinics or blood banks among other activities.

The "Accredited Bodies" section contains details of all certification bodies accredited by ENAC in the different sectors.

All ENAC documentation relative to the criteria and procedures for management system certification is available in the DOCUMENTS section.